It’s a Christmas table hero, and now Australia’s best supermarket ham has been crowned, just in time to snap one up for the big day.

It’s the second year that Australian Pork Limited (APL) has hosted the Supermarket Christmas Ham Taste Test, to help us choose a great leg of ham for Christmas lunch. More than 20 hams were judged, hailing from Coles, Woolworths, IGA, ALDI and Costco.

The judges included APL CEO Margo Andrae, celebrity chef Adrian Richardson, free range pig producer Judy Croagh and Ralf Dink of Oakwood Smallgoods.

Taking out top honours for the overall nationally available favourite ham was the Double Smoked Half Leg Ham from Woolworths, at $12.50 per kilogram. The judges praising the ham’s ‘sweet and light aroma, clean robust appearance, and deliciously delicate taste’.

The overall value ham was also from Woolies: the Half Leg Ham priced at $8.50 per kilo. “This ham had a beautiful balanced smoky aroma, flavour with a good bite,” commented one of our judges Ralf Fink.

The judges also loved the free-range Berkshire full leg ham on the bone from Costco, which took out the Premium Buy at $19.99 per kilogram.

Here’s a breakdown of the overall favourites and value at Australia’s major supermarkets:

Australia’s Best Supermarket Ham 2021

Coles: 

• Favourite and Value: COLES Beechwood Smoked Half Leg Ham at $8.50 per kilogram

Woolworths: 

• Woolworths Favourite: Woolworths Double Smoked Half Leg Ham at $12.50 per kilogram
• Woolworths Value: Woolworths Half Leg Ham at $8.50 per kilogram

Aldi:

• Favourite: Aldi Specially Selected Triple Smoked Ham Half Leg at $11.99 per kilogram

Costco:

• Favourite: Costoco Central Highlands Pork Ham on the Bone at $8.50 per kilogram

IGA:

• Favourite: IGA Naturally Smoked Leg Ham at $8.50 per kilogram

How to choose an Australian Ham

Australian Pork Limited has also released some handy tips on how to choose the perfect Aussie ham:

• Anything on the bone is guaranteed to be Australian pork, due to strict biosecurity laws prohibiting the importation of meat on a bone.
• When purchasing a boneless ham, a green and gold kangaroo only signifies that the product was made in Australia, and it can still contain imported pork. Australian Pork Limited encourages consumers to look closely at the bar chart under the green and gold kangaroo and check the number in the statements is over 90% Australian ingredients.

How to store a ham

Once you’ve purchased your Aussie ham, here’s the best way to store it:

• Soak a Ham Bag, pillowcase, or tea towel in a solution of 4 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of vinegar.
• Wring out excess water and place ham in the Ham Bag, pillowcase or wrap in tea towel. Store in coolest part of fridge.
• Re-soak bag in solution every few days or when Ham Bag dries out.

Read these Christmas cooking articles next:

• Hoisin Glazed Christmas Ham
• 13 Easy Christmas Desserts
• The Best Herbs For Your Christmas Feast

Do you have a favourite Christmas Ham Glaze recipe? We’d love to feature it on Mouths of Mums, add it to our Recipes.